Maryland Nursing Home Lawyer Blog

The Prevalence of Pressure Sores—Family Sues Assisted Living Home for Negligence

July 30, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In yesterday’s blog, our attorneys discussed the prevalence of pressure sores in nursing homes and assisted living residences, that often result in injury or wrongful death.

In a recent wrongful death lawsuit, the family of Frances Graham, a former 81-year old resident of an assisted living home in San Leandro, California, is suing Graham’s doctor, as well as the assisted living home, after Graham suffered from nursing home violence and devastating pressure sores all over her body, some reportedly as large as a baseballs—that lead to her tragic death. Graham’s family is also suing the nonprofit responsible for her care, the Center for Elders Independence, claiming that they put profits over her nursing home health and safety.

According to the suit, Graham was kept at the Andrew Elijah residential care home even though laws require that Alzheimer’s patients are cared for by a nursing staff that is skilled for such illnesses. Graham reportedly shared a room with a 72-year old dementia patient, who in June of last year, was found attacking Graham with a plastic hair pick. Graham suffered dozens of cuts on her body, and her left eye was bleeding and also bruised. Graham was reportedly treated by a doctor, and sent back to the Andrew Elijah home and put in a room that was private.

Graham’s son claims that soon after, Graham was rushed to the hospital with pneumonia, where a doctor discovered multiple bedsores on her body, so many that the doctors wrote in the notes that they weren’t sure that they even seen them all. The worst sore was allegedly a 4-inch hole that had eaten down to the tendons and smelled horribly. The doctor also found her to be anemic and dehydrated. Graham was moved to another health care center, and died two days later.

Wrongful Death Lawsuit Blames Nursing Home for Untreated Pressure Sores

July 29, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Pressure sores, also known as bedsores or decubitus ulcers, plague nearly one million Americans every year, and are a leading cause of nursing home injury, as our Maryland nursing home injury attorneys reported in a recent blog.

Pressure sores develop after an individual rests for too long in one position without moving, cutting off the blood supply to a resident’s skin, forming sores from the pressure on the skin that is unrelieved. Nursing homes residents who are elderly and immobile are highly vulnerable to pressure ulcers. Many advanced decubitus ulcer cases are often the result of nursing home abuse and neglect, and can end in wrongful death. Around sixty thousand people reportedly die each year from complications of some of the more advanced stages of bedsores.

In a recent wrongful death lawsuit, a hospital is being charged with allegedly failing to prevent, treat, and monitor the pressure sores of a patient, causing him to develop serious infections that allegedly lead to his wrongful death.

According to the suit, William B. McCuller became a resident of Memorial Hospital and Memorial Convalescent Center in April of last year, where he developed pressure ulcers that became infected. The hospital and center staff are being accused of negligence, for failing to properly treat McCuller, failing to monitor and care for his bedsores properly, failing to identify him as a high risk patient for bedsores, and failing to identify the early states of ulcer occurrence. The staff is also being accused of neglecting to treat McCuller with the proper wound prevention and treatment protocol, and to properly train their staff on the prevention protocol as well.

Resident Assault Leads to Wrongful Death Lawsuit

July 27, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In recent news that our Maryland Nursing Home Injury Attorneys have been following, an assisted-living facility in Rochester, Minnesota is being sued for negligence, wrongful death and medical malpractice, after a resident with dementia was allegedly assaulted and died.

According to the civil lawsuit, Donald R. Salli, 78, was assaulted by another resident in September of last year. The complaint claims that Salli was found by the staff at Sunrise Cottages on the floor on September 19th, with a resident assaulting him. Salli allegedly had a large hematoma on his head, as well as a red area from where he had been kicked in the back. He was reportedly not evaluated by a licensed nurse until seven hours after the attack.

The lawsuit also claims that the next day, Salli was found on the floor of his cottage apartment by three staff members, crying and in a great amount of pain, and was unable to walk on his own. He was documented as being unresponsive, sleeping through the day, was unable to stand or communicate, and yelled in pain when his back was touched.

After Salli’s daughter, Elizabeth Pulsifer, asked that Salli be sent to the emergency room, they discovered that he had suffered a fractured skull with internal bleeding and three ribs were fractured. He reportedly remained in the intensive care unit until he was transferred to hospice care, where he died on October 7, from a brain injury. According to the Minnesota Department of Health, neglect was the direct cause of his demise and they cited the facility for negligence.

Maryland Nursing Home Fined, Report Says Facility Harmed Residents in A/C Malfunction

July 23, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent blog, our nursing home injury attorneys at Lebowitz and Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers discussed a news story involving a Baltimore, Maryland nursing home that moved 150 residents out of the center after the building’s air conditioning system malfunctioned—failing to keep residents cool during a heat wave, and reportedly affecting the health and safety of the residents.

This week, the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DHMH) released a lengthy report, after conducting a thorough investigation, and claimed that the Ravenswood Nursing Home gave nursing home residents a “substandard” quality of care that resulted in “actual harm” to the residents.

Maryland regulators reportedly fined Ravenswood $52,500 after the air conditioning malfunction left residents sweltering in nearly 100-degree heat in the nursing home.

In the DHMH report, six state and federal violations were reportedly cited, that focus on the air conditioning problem. The report also found that the nursing home facility was storing food that was potentially hazardous at unsafe temperatures, the building was not in good shape, and that the nursing home residents were receiving inadequate care, treatment and services.

Maryland OHCQ Issues Code Red Heat Alert for Nursing Homes

July 14, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent blog, our Baltimore, Maryland Nursing Home Abuse and Neglect Attorneys discussed the recent relocation of 220 nursing home residents, after an unprecedented heat wave in Baltimore lead to air conditioning malfunctions that closed two nursing homes—in an effort to protect the health and safety of the residents until the center’s heating and cooling systems are repaired.

The Maryland Office of Health Care Quality (OHCQ) issued a “Code Red – Heat Alert” last week, along with the Baltimore City Health Department, cautioning all Maryland licensed health care and residential facilities to implement appropriate plans to ensure the health and safety of residents while the outside temperatures are near or above 100°F.

The health department made recommendations for nursing homes to:

• Relocate resident activities to cooler areas, and caution nursing home residents to cut back on outdoor activities during the extremely hot days to prevent nursing home injury or illness.
• Monitor and address the behavior of dementia patients, or confused patients who may want to be wrapped in blankets, or wear too many clothes.
• Make sure the cold water is constantly available for residents, and offer it frequently.
• To keep residents cool, offer ice packs, or washcloths that are cool and wet, to help them endure the heat. Also give residents baths or shower that are cool, or lukewarm in temperature.
• As nursing home A/C systems will be operating at their maximum potential during the heat wave, contact maintenance staff to check the A/C systems, and perform required maintenance measures in advance, to prevent system failures.
• Rearrange any nursing home equipment or furniture that may be blocking any vents on the walls or floor to improve air circulation and make sure that the movement of air is not obstructed.
• Check the operation of all refrigerators and ice makers in facilities that do not have A/C or where kitchens are not cooled with A/C, to make sure that the refrigeration units are maintaining the correct temperatures.
• Make sure all medications for residents are stored at the temperatures listen on the packaging or prescription labels. Relocate the drugs to secure storage if necessary, to prevent any nursing home negligence or injury.
• Turn off any unnecessary lights that do not impact any activity for residents or staff, and close the curtains to keep out the hot sun. Also avoid the use of heat producing equipment like vacuums, stoves, or ovens.

Maryland Residents Moved Out of Nursing Home After A/C Malfunctions

July 12, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In recent Baltimore, Maryland nursing home news, the Ravenwood Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center in downtown Baltimore closed its doors last week, moving 150 residents out of the center due to safety concerns—after the building’s air conditioning system malfunctioned, failing to keep residents cool in the city’s scorching heat.

Although many residents claimed that the malfunction occurred on Friday, July 2, it was determined by authorities to occur on Sunday. Many residents claimed that their complaints were not heard, until a Ravenwood resident called 911 on Monday for help. The temperature inside the building was reportedly 92 degrees at the time.

The center could reportedly face new environmental deficiencies, as it did not report the issues until a few days after the nursing home had been without air conditioning. Ravenwood is currently under investigation by the state Office of Health Care and Quality to make sure that the home followed proper procedure, to ensure the health and safety of the residents.

The Ravenwood staff claimed to do everything that they could to make sure that the residents were not in medical danger during the period of time without air conditioning. Many of the residents are vulnerable adults who need special medical attention, some of whom are under 65 and suffer from a variety of medical conditions, including amputation, HIV/AIDS, and paralysis.

Resident Death and Antipsychotic Drug Violations in Nursing Homes

June 30, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

Our Washington D.C. Nursing Home Abuse Attorneys recently discussed the topic of chemical restraints in a blog, and the unnecessary use of antipsychotics in nursing homes. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) estimates that around 15,000 nursing home deaths occur every year from the off-label use of antipsychotic medications that are unapproved by the FDA.

Center for Medicare Advocacy Senior Policy Attorney Toby Edelman, recently released a statement in reaction to a Senate Special Committee on Aging hearing, claiming that nursing home residents die every day from the inappropriate use of antipsychotic medications given to residents who have no diagnosis of psychosis. Edelman claims that nursing home facilities are violating the Controlled Substances Act and the 1987 Nursing Home Reform Law, by failing to provide the residents with proper medical attention, and physicians who are available to treat them 24 hrs a day.

According to the statement, under the 1987 Nursing Home Reform Law, every resident must be under the care of a physician, and each nursing home must provide a physician for medical care in case of an emergency, with another physician on-call. Edelman claims that nursing homes and long-term care pharmacies have long been relying on the practice of “chart orders,” for medications, where nurses assess the nursing home resident’s changed condition, and contact the physician—who then prescribes pain medication recommendations.

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has reportedly begun to enforce the rules and policy of the Controlled Substances Act, requiring physicians to write and sign prescriptions, sending nursing home and nursing home pharmacy industries into a frenzy, claiming that without these practices, residents will not receive the pain medication they need.

Jury Awards $4.85 Million to Family in Nursing Home Wrongful Death Lawsuit

June 29, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In recent news that our Baltimore, Maryland Nursing Home Neglect Attorneys have been following, the family of a patient who died from an overdose of morphine while receiving physical therapy at a nursing home, has been awarded $4.85 million—after accusing the home of nursing home negligence and wrongful death in a lawsuit.

According to the civil lawsuit filed by the family in 2005, Burr Needham, arrived in the center on April 26, 2002, to receive physical therapy for a hip fracture, and was administered a lethal overdose of morphine. The suit accused Dr. Arun Gupta and a staff of five nurses at the home of nursing home negligence, causing the 76-year-old’s wrongful death on May 2nd.

According to the medical examiner, the death was a homicide, caused by severe morphine intoxication. The documentation in the suit showed that the staff at the nursing home was unable to account for the dosage of morphine administered to Needham.

The jury ruled that the staff was professionally negligent, and awarded Mrs. Needham, who died of cancer in 2007, $3 million for the loss of companionship she experienced after her husband died. The jury also awarded $1.5 million for Needham’s suffering and pain, and $350,000 in damages.

Nurse Indicted for Chemical Restraint Leading to Nursing Home Resident’s Death

June 28, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In recent blog, our Baltimore, Maryland Nursing Home Attorneys discussed the topic of chemical restraints, in regard to a February case, where Britthaven of Chapel Hill Nursing Home was investigated by local and state authorities after Alzheimer’s patients tested positive for opiates that had not been prescribed to them.

This month, Angela Almore, a 44-year old registered nurse, was indicted in the case, on one count of second-degree murder in relation to the death of Rachel Holliday, a resident of the nursing home who died after being given a heavy dose of morphine. Almore was also charged with six counts of felony resident abuse, related to administering morphine to several patients of the nursing home, causing hospitalization.

The investigation reportedly began after a few patients from the Alzheimer’s wing of the nursing home were hospitalized for odd behavior, which led to the discovery of opiates in their blood. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) and the Attorney General’s Medicaid Investigations Unit, with the Orange County District Attorney, launched a criminal investigation of the nursing home in February to determine if the patients were being over-medicated, abused or neglected, or being subjected to chemical restraint.

The North Carolina Attorney General’s Office claims that after testing, nine out of over twenty-five Alzheimer’s patients at the nursing home tested positive for opiates in February. Holliday, one of the hospitalized patients with high levels of morphine in her system, died on February 16, 2010.

Another Nursing Home Abuse and Negligence Lawsuit Against Good Samaritan and Former Aides

June 25, 2010 | Lebowitz & Mzhen

In a recent nursing home abuse case that our attorneys at Lebowitz and Mzhen Personal Injury Lawyers discussed in a blog, the Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society in Albert Lea, Minnesota, was sued, after nursing home residents were reportedly subjected to a pattern of nursing home abuse over a period of around five months by nursing assistants in 2008.

Another lawsuit was filed last week in the same elder abuse incident, seeking damages from Good Samaritan, and accusing the supervisors of nursing home negligence for failing to screen employees to prevent abuse. The lawsuit claims that the nursing home failed to properly supervise the four nursing assistants, who are accused of abusing patients in a sexual, physical and emotional way.

In the original case filed earlier this year, the four former nursing assistants were accused of physically and emotionally abusing fifteen Alzheimer’s and dementia patients while videotaping the abuse. The nurses were accused of civil assault, battery and causing emotional distress, and the nursing home was accused of failing to protect the elderly residents from abuse and neglect, and neglecting to properly supervise the nursing aides.

This is the fourth civil lawsuit filed in South Dakota connected with the case, filed on behalf of Beverly Butts. It is similar to the Freeborn County case from January, but the reported victims named in the case have since died, and according to the Globe Gazette, when Minnesota victims die, liability goes away. But family members of the victim can pursue claims in South Dakota, as Sioux Falls is the headquarters for the nursing home chain.